california-games posts

Yesterday was the last day that groups could file a brief that either supports or fights against a California game law to the US Supreme Court. A group called the Media Coalition took the opportunity to do just that as the fight heads to oral arguments in front of the nine judges on November 2.

The Media Coalition represents a number of entertainment industry trade groups in the US that cover the movie, book, comic book, music and other industries. They are attacking the California law that would restrict the sales of certain games with violent content to minors if it is allowed to pass. The Media Coalition fears that if the US Supreme Court allows this law to stand it could open the floodgates and allow other entertainment forms to be regulated in the same manner. As the group states in its press release, "There is no First Amendment exception for violent speech in books, movies, music, or other mediums, and we believe that the Supreme Court should not open the door to a new category of unprotected speech for video games or otherwise."

Update: Doom and Quake creators id Software have also filed their own brief against the California game law. Thanks to Blue's News for spotting that.

Earlier this year the US Supreme Court made the surprising decision to listen to the case that pits the state of California and the video game industry against each other. California's law, which would restrict the sales of certain games to minors, will be heard by the court sometime this fall.

CNBC reports that many US game publishers are concerned about what will happen if the US Supreme Court votes in California's favor. Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take Two Interactive, states, "I'm worried about it, and I think everybody in our business should be really worried about it." The main concern is that retailers might not sell M-rated games if the California law labels such games as being for adults only.

Indeed other states could pass laws similar to California's if the US Supreme Court approves it. Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello is quoted as saying, " ... we could end up with state level bureaucracies that define what's marketable in 50 different jurisdictions across the U.S." He adds, "It will screw us up in a real way."

It has come down to this for California's video-PC game law. Passed back in 2005 by governor Arnold Schwarzenegger the law, which would regulate the sales of games with violent content to minors, has already been declared unconstitutional by two courts. Now GamePolitics is reporting that the US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the final appeal of the proposed law by the state of California today.

It's the first time that such a proposed law has come up before the highest court in the land (although it did deal with a similar case that involved video game arcade machines back in 2001). Similar laws have been shot down in court many times before but California, which has already likely spent tons of taxpaper money trying to defend their law against the game industry's own lawyers, seems determined to have this case heard. GamePolitics reports that the Supreme Court's final decision should be revealed on October 5.